Dubliners by
Dubliners is arguably the best-known and most influential collection of short stories written in English, and has been since its publication in 1914. Through what Joyce described as their 'style of scrupulous meanness,' the stories present a direct, sometimes searing view of Dublin in the early twentieth century. The text of this Norton Critical Edition is based on renowned Joyce scholar Hans Walter Gabler's edited text and includes his editorial notes and the introduction to his scholarly edition, which details and discusses Dubliners' complicated publication history. 'Contexts' offers a rich collection of materials that bring the stories and the Irish capital to life for twenty-first century readers, including photographs, newspaper articles and advertising, early versions of two of the stories, and a satirical poem by Joyce about his publication woes. 'Criticism' brings together eight illuminating essays on the most frequently taught stories in Dubliners--'Araby,' 'Eveline,' 'After the Race,' 'The Boarding House,' 'Counterpoints,' 'A Painful Case,' and 'The Dead.' Contributors include David G. Wright, Heyward Ehrlich, Margot Norris, James Fairhall, Fritz Senn, Morris Beja, Roberta Jackson, and Vincent J. Cheng.
The Metamorphosis by
The novella is fully annotated and is accompanied by selected textual variants. Backgrounds and Contexts introduces readers to The Metamorphosis in the richest possible setting. The links between the author's life and his work are explored through an examination of his personal writings. Kafka's letters and diary entries illuminate the creative process behind his portrait of Gregor Samsa, his family, and their nightmarish ordeal. Criticism collects seven essays from the period 1970-95 representing the most important currents in literary theory--semiotics, feminism, identity philosophy, New Historicism, and post-Freudian cultural psychoanalysis. The essays offer a variety of perspectives on the novella by Iris Bruce, Nina Pelikan Straus, Kevin W. Sweeney, Mark Anderson, Hartmut Binder, Eric Santner, and Stanley Corngold. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.
Katherine Mansfield's Selected Short Stories by
With the exception of the first four stories, all were written within a period of ten years. These stories, and the letters following, reflect the urgency of a writer who knew her time was limited. All but four of the texts of the stories reprinted here are versions that Mansfield herself revised or selected.
Twenty excerpts from Mansfield's correspondence address the craft of writing and her own views on her work, subjects rarely broached in her many letters.
"Criticism" includes eighteen essays that collectively suggest the changing emphases in how Mansfield has been read by critics. Contributors include fellow writers Rebecca West, T. S. Eliot, Katherine Anne Porter, V. S. Pritchett, Elizabeth Bowen, and Frank O' Connor, as well as biographers Claire Tomalin and Vincent O'Sullivan, among others.
A Selected Bibliography is also included.
Mrs. Dalloway by
In this vivid portrait of one day in a woman's life, Clarissa Dalloway is preoccupied with the last-minute details of party she is to give that evening. As she readies her house she is flooded with memories and re-examines the choices she has made over the course of her life.